"Retail is cyclical, so what didn’t happen five years ago is happening now, and it’s all coming around."

Evolve or die: That is what today’s small businesses must do as they strive to meet rapidly changing customer needs. No one knows this better than Regina Garcia, owner of Events, the luxury gift shop that anchored the River Oaks Shopping Center for almost three decades before relocating to Upper Kirby in February. Though less than two miles in distance, the move was still a massive leap.

How are you capturing a new generation of customers?

The millennials are growing up. Five years ago they might have said, Oh my God, that’s for old people. Now they’re going, I really like that. They’re maturing, they’re having their first family, and they have their first home; they’re starting to think, Wow, I might want that chandelier.

Do millennials still want the traditional items Events is known for carrying?

Absolutely, because it makes you feel like home. There’s a comfort.

Do you see that going away any time soon?

No, I actually see it getting bigger—I see that trend. Retail is cyclical, so what didn’t happen five years ago is happening now, and it’s all coming around. Millennials are really starting to ask questions that are classic and more transitional. They don’t want to go totally gold and pink, they want to go white or pearl with gold. They’re not to the floral yet, and they probably won’t be, but that’s okay. Transitional gets us there. That’s a big deal for us to be able to capture that.

What else do you have planned?

We’re going to do some things that are affordable, that are still within a high-luxury taste level, that are under $200, and we’re going to do more how-to trunk shows, because she’s growing up, I’m telling you. She wants to know how to set a dinner table.

"You’re going to fail—we’ve had stores open, and we’ve had stores close. Everything is not going to be a home run. But you have to stay above that; you have to react and be agile to what the consumer is doing and saying. "